Since April of this year, 270 companies within the precision engineering industry have offered 1,500 opportunities for job-seekers, Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo said in a jobs situation report on Sep. 14.

The majority of these opportunities are jobs and eight out of 10 of these jobs are specifically for PMET roles, such as Product Engineer and Quality Assurance Inspector, she added.

This job creation is part of the industry's growth for 2020, from January to July, by 11.4 per cent, compared to the same period in 2019.

In total, the industry employs more than one-fifth of the 473,000 workers within Singapore's manufacturing sector.

Salaries for PMET roles range from S$1,500 to S$6,000

Teo further stated that the salaries for the PMET roles ranged from S$1,500 for entry-level roles to S$6,000 for roles which require more experience and skills in-demand.

In addition, job-seekers should not hold the impression that the precision engineering industry only seeks profiles with technical skills, and therefore choose not to search for such roles on the assumption that they lack the necessary experience.

Here, Teo pointed to the presence of career conversion programmes for those new to the industry and highlighted that thus far, more than 260 jobseekers had found jobs in the industry through schemes such as the SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes.

This includes Workforce Singapore’s career conversion programmes which in turn includes Professional Conversion Programmes for PMETs, and Place-and-Train programmes for non-PMETs.

Companies that supply Covid-19-related equipment have seen growth

As for companies that have grown during this period, Teo stated that they were:

• Companies that supply parts for Covid-19 related equipment, such as diagnostic kits and ventilators;
• Companies supplying components for tech appliances related to workers telecommunting, and
• Robotics and sensor companies which provide digital solutions for reducing manpower while still functioning at normal capacity.

In stressing the importance of manufacturing sector in general, Teo stated:

"We see manufacturing as still being one of the key pillars of our economy contributing significantly to our GDP.

We see it as providing good jobs for Singaporeans, both PMETs and non-PMETs, and we also see opportunities for future growth. This is why we want to make these opportunities known to job-seekers, so that you will consider them and find the help that is available to help you transit to these opportunities."

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Top photo by Steve Vance via Flickr